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Founder's Message

Handi Irawan D.Chairman Frontier Consulting Group

TOP BRAND FOUNDER

Handi Irawan is the Chairman of Frontier Consulting Group, a company that provides consultation, research and training services in the field of strategic marketing and customer satisfaction. For years, Handi Irawan has delivered consultation services to more than 50 companies in Indonesia. Handi Irawan is also recognized as one of the best content & knowledge-based speaker in Indonesia, a speaker who has in-depth knowledge of Indonesian customers, both from experience as marketing consultant, and from hundreds of surveys conducted through Frontier Consulting Group institution.

Handi Irawan is the institutor of TOP BRAND, ICSA (Indonesia Customer Satisfaction Award), IMAC (Indonesia’s Most Admired Companies), Marketing Award and ReBi (Rekor Bisnis). He is also the initiator of National Customers Day (Hari Pelanggan Nasional) which is celebrated every September 4. Harian Bisnis Indonesia attributed him as the Father of Customer Satisfaction. Handi Irawan is the author of best-seller books such as 10 Prinsip Kepuasan Pelanggan, Indonesian Customer Satisfaction, Winning Strategy, Smarter Marketing Moves, and 10 Karakter Unik Konsumen Indonesia.

Handi Irawan has earned his master degree in the University of New South Wales and has undergone Executive Programs at Harvard Business School and Kellogg Business School, and he is a long-time columnist in Winning Strategy column in Majalah Marketing. He is also a contributor to many other media such as SWA, Bisnis Indonesia, BusinessWeek, Majalah Sheng Yi and Garuda Indonesia Magazine. He has also been a host on Pas FM radio for “Marketing with Handi Irawan” program for 3 years.

MESSAGE FROM FOUNDER

CEOs, CMOs & marketers have always tried to look for the answer to the question: is there a strategy that can be considered a standard strategy in building a brand? Is there something that can be treated as the holy book or commonly known as the Holy Grail of brand building strategy? Common sense, the answer is yes and no. We can answer yes, because there are many similar patterns in building successful brands. We answer no, because we know that past strategies don’t guarantee the same success in the future.

Dynamic market, fast-changing consumer behavior and changes in technology, including the presence of digital media, have raised questions if we say that there is a Holy Grail Strategy in building a brand. Therefore, the best thing for marketers to do is to combine the process of learning successful strategies with the ability to predict the trend for the future.

Socrates, the father of philosophy as we most commonly state it, has his thought on the nature of the world. Interestingly, his teaching is so logically applicable for any marketer responsible for building a brand. Quoting from his tip and infer it to brand building strategy “Question everything—literally everything—about your brand. Take nothing for granted. Always look to get to a deeper level of understanding, and don’t settle for anything that doesn’t feel like the truth”.

Today we are living in the age of surprise and disruption. We are sometimes no longer facing a constant flux. For some industries, forces of technologies are ripping apart the world of branding. The contrast between the way brand building has traditionally been done and the way it is emerging has never been more apparent. Gone is the myth that a brand is built over a long time.

We can learn from the past in building a brand. In facing the future, we need to question the sacredness of this strategy. Therefore, the truer is not the Holy Grail Strategy, but the Holy Grail Capabilities of the marketer.